Report on visit to the Congregational Church of India (Maraland), 11-23 February 2013, by Rev
Barbara Bridges, Douglas Rathbone and Richard Pickering
Purpose of Visit:



To attend and bring greetings to the Annual Assembly of CCI(M)
To lead a Pastors’ Retreat
To explore future collaboration between CF and CCI(M), particularly in the field of training
Itinerary
Mon 11 Feb
Flight from London Heathrow to Kolkata, via Doha
Tues 12
Arrival in Kolkata; flight to Aizawl; registration with police; drive to Hmuifang and
overnight
Wed 13
Drive to Saikao; evening meeting with Beirakaw
Thurs 14
Drive to Phura, via Tuipang and Viaha; Assembly opening worship
Fri 15
Assembly
Sat 16
Assembly
Sun 17
Assembly
Mon 18
Drive to Saikao; preparation for retreat
Tues 19
Pastors’ Retreat
Wed 20
Pastors’ Retreat; opening of GS’s house
Thurs 21
Drive to Aizawl; meeting with retired civil servant
Fri 22
Shopping and Visits in Aizawl; flight to Kolkata
Sat 23
Flight from Kolkata to London via Doha
Assembly
The 53rd Assembly of the CCI(M) was held in the village of Phura, a 5-hour drive from Saikao by some
of the best and worst roads we encountered. En route we were greeted and fed by church members
in Tuipang and Viaha. We were housed in the old Forestry resthouse and ably looked after by our
Saikao hosts, Reggie, Abigail and Juliette, who had travelled with us.
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Phura is situated in a large valley at considerably lower altitude than Saikao and consequently quite
hot during the daytime. The pastor of the local church, Rev Hrohmo, told us there are seven
different churches in the village – the shell of a new Evangelical Church of Maraland (ECM)1 church
stood beside the assembly venue.
The assembly itself was held in a public hall in the centre of the village, the Phura local church being
too small, though the business meetings took place there. We attended morning and evening
worship each day, with Barbara preaching at the Saturday evening service and Richard presenting
greetings on Sunday evening. During the Fellowship on Thursday afternoon we answered some
questions from the congregation. One significant question concerned the size and power of the CF.
Where did we rank on a world scale of church size? We were told that this question arose because
people from the ECM had been telling our CCI(M) friends that there was no point in being allied to
such a small and weak church as CF. We did our best to explain the nature of CF and its collaboration
with CCI(M).
Towards the end of the fellowship session we attended there was local dancing to the hymns and
songs. This did show that at least some local traditions are finding their way into their worship
though we gathered this change was not welcomed by all.
Business sessions of CCI(M) were held in the Phura local church. Among the decisions taken were
those on women’s use of the pulpit (see below) and the request for CF support for the mission to
Arunachal Pradesh.
On Friday we visited a nearby lake, the largest in Mizoram, though not particularly large by outside
standards.
Beirakaw was sick towards the end of the Assembly and returned to Saikao during Sunday. We
followed on the Monday, again with stops in Viaha and Tuipang. The latter, the second largest town
in Maraland, will host the 2014 Assembly.
Pastors’ Retreat
The retreat was held in the General Secretary’s office, with other offices and outside available for
small group discussion. They had purchased a whiteboard which proved very useful. They had
produced a printed programme, printed notebooks and a banner. However, they had not been able
to download or translate the questions we had sent for the Bible Studies. This did not, in the event,
prove much of a problem, but they had not told us of this problem before we arrived.
We had been told there would be 15 participants. Approximately the same number took part each
day, about 11. However, they were not the same 11. Beirakaw was sick on the first day so that he
and an elder from Tuipang attended only the second day. Two women – the wife of Rev Hrohmo
who speaks good English and the Secretary in charge of Fellowship – attended the first session and
then disappeared. Siaha participants did not turn up “due to communication problem”, though some
were at the Assembly and they were in daily telephone contact. This meant that we had to introduce
1
The ECM is the other church into which the Mara Evangelical Church split in 1989.
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the approach again at the start of the second day. There didn’t appear to be any attempt by
participants in day one to bring those who arrived for day two up to date. Perhaps they are more
used to stand alone sessions whereas we meant the sessions to build on each other.
Two missioners from Myanmar who had come over to attend the Assembly also took part in the
retreat. They lacked any English and so had more difficulty communicating.
It became immediately clear that our participatory approach to training was new to them. Our
training methods, therefore, became part of the content of the training (as is normal, cf. Marshall
McLuhan “The medium is the message”.) On the whole they took to this approach and appeared to
appreciate it.
Each session began with a hymn and a prayer and we began each day with Bible study: Acts 2:41-47
on day one and Isaiah 65:17-25 on day two. They seem unused to long passages of scripture. In the
services we attended local preachers read and used just one or two verses as a text. This was
reflected in their responses to the various questions we put where they tended to quote particular
verses rather than to put anything into their own words. However, in general there was lively
discussion during the Bible Studies as there was in all the group discussion sessions once they had
grasped the task set for them.
On the two evenings of the retreat we attended services in the Saikao local church. Richard
preached on the Tuesday evening from 1 Peter 2:4-10 and Douglas on the Wednesday from Luke
10:1-12.
Early on Wednesday morning we were taken on a tour of the Congregational English Academy (now
partially in the Clinic Building), the Motherless Baby Home and the Missionaries’ Mausoleum, as well
as calling on Rev Mark and Violet at the Mission House. CCI(M) has given land for the building of a
tourist lodge not far from the Mission House, which is listed as one of the tourist attractions of
Mizoram. This is now under construction.
After the close of the Retreat on the Wednesday afternoon, Barbara opened the newly built house
for the General Secretary which includes an en suite guest room. Richard unveiled two new plaques,
one to the missionaries of the Lakher Mission and one to the first Mara to be ordained to ministry in
the Mara church. There was then a closing feast on the open ground near the community centre in
which we stayed.
Women in CCI(M)
At present women have little leadership role outside the Women’s Fellowship. Only men can be
pastors or elders, though women can be deacons. CCI(M) has four men and one woman with
Bachelor of Divinity qualifications, but they do not really know what to do with the woman. At
present she is based in HQ as Secretary i/c Fellowship.
2013 Assembly made the decision that women be allowed to use the pulpit during Women’s
Fellowship meetings (each Thurs evening in all 18 local churches of CCI(M)). A small step forward.
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There was some indication that the pastors may be more liberal on this issue than the church in
general. The pastors are all young and Beriakaw, Beirona and Hrohmo all have well-educated wives
who speak some English. Most elders and lay leaders are much older. While older does not
necessarily equate with more conservative, this may be a factor. During our World Café session,
someone, probably Beirakaw, wrote “the role of women in the church/society” as a training need.
Barbara comments: “I had two opportunities to talk to women though both were through a male
interpreter who often spoke for the women rather than interpreting their words. The women’s
organisation is run totally by women and they would be keen to see a visit to their Assembly which
takes place at a different time. They organise pastoral support for members – I wasn’t sure if this
extended to other people in the area – and also raise money to support missionaries. The women
preach at their meetings and hold competitions on Bible knowledge.
“Any visit to learn more about the role of women and support them in developing themselves would
need a female interpreter.”
Interchurch Relations
The sour relations between ECM and CCI(M) are still a major factor in church life. CCI(M) appears to
have good relations with the IKK (Church of Jesus Christ) in Maraland and the Baptist Church of
Mizoram, which predominates in the Lai ethnic area just across the Kolodyne river. Within Maraland
there is inevitably some competition between churches, as for example with the Saikao schools.
On our last evening in Aizawl we were summoned to the hotel lobby by a retired civil servant with a
house in Saikao. He had encountered Janet when on her visit as ICF Moderator (indeed, he was
carrying a list of documents from the British Library) and seemed to think she was somehow a leader
of the worldwide Congregational Church and that we were, in some way, her deputies. His objective
was to ask us to use our authority to facilitate reunion between the CCI(M) and the ECM. When we
had explained the nature of the ICF and the CF and that neither had any authority over CCI(M) nor
any administrative links with the Australian Congregational Federation and that, in any case, it was
not our intention to interfere in the internal relations of the local Maraland churches, he went away
“a sadder but (one hopes) wiser man”.
Requests for Support
Native-speaker English Teacher
This is a request they also made in 2012. Michael and I saw the recently opened Congregational
English Academy in a single large room in Lorrainville with one teacher when we visited in 2012.
Since then the school has developed. The room we saw has been subdivided into four classrooms
and the clinic building is being used as the school office and three more classrooms. The school
teaches English, Hindi, Mizo, Mara, Maths and Environmental Science. There are three teachers in
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addition to the headmaster (who is very deaf)2. The school has a supply of textbooks and exercise
books, benches and blackboards. An area of land adjacent to the General Secretary’s house and just
above the office has been cleared to build the school proper.
They started the academic year with around 80 pupils but this has dropped to around 50. Some of
the students from other villages found the travel too much.
There are government schools in Saikao and, apparently, the Evangelical Church of Maraland is also
building a school in the village. There is, thus, developing a battle for pupils. One sentiment
expressed to us was that a UK English teacher working with them for 6-months or a year would help
to attract pupils away from the other schools.
Clinic
In 2012 they asked us about continuing financial support for the clinic. The building was completed
when we visited last year, partly with money from CF. However, they have no equipment or staff. It
is not clear how they would maintain the clinic and pay staff. The nearest hospital is in Siaha, but it is
unclear where the nearest clinic is.
Independent Mission Field in Arunachal Pradesh
CCI(M) is concerned to perpetuate the soul-winning activities of their founding missionaries. In this
they already support 15 missionaries of the India Evangelical Mission in other parts of India and 8
missioners in Myanmar (two of whom had come for the assembly and attended the retreat). Now
they wish to open their own independent mission field in Arunachal Pradesh, a state on the borders
of India and China (Tibet) to the east of Bhutan and north of Assom. The area has already been
surveyed. One major problem for them is anti-conversion laws in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.
They recognise that, in any case, just preaching the gospel may have little effect and, therefore, they
talk of establishing schools and orphanages. In essence, they are looking for CF or individual CF
churches to go 50:50 on funding this enterprise.
The first question which arises on the AR mission proposal is whether CF or member churches should
or would support activities which are potentially illegal according to local laws. There is also the
question of why they feel the need to ‘go it alone’ in this case rather than expand their work with
IEM.
Support with Music
In our attempts to elicit training-related areas for future CF-CCI(M) collaboration, one topic which
came up was music. Their present hymn book uses the tonic sol-fa notation and it is unclear how
widespread is the understanding of this system. However, when we visited the Aizawl synod HQ of
the Presbyterian Church of India (PCI) we noted that they have a music school which teaches both
tonic and staff notation. L. Molua, the elder who accompanied us to Aizawl, said they had sent
people from CCI(M) there in the past. So it appears there are local resources available if they want to
make use of them.
2
He attended our retreat and often went off as a group of one during group discussion. Some of his answers
showed him to have thought hard on many church issues.
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Drug Rehabilitation
Drug addiction amongst young people is seen as an increasing problem, even in Saikao itself. CCI(M)
has put a project proposal to the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) for help to build
a residential rehabilitation centre in Saikao.
General Comments
There seems to be a lack of confidence in their own abilities. One way this shows itself is in the
desire for someone to come out from England to take a lead in many of the projects. This may well
be the result of their origins and the continuing presence of Violet underlines to them the need for
an English missionary.
People from the area are becoming qualified in nursing and music, whether in Aizawl or elsewhere in
India, but there is still the desire for English people to come and take a lead. The choirs show that at
least one person in each area has some musical ability. While new hymns are being written the old
tunes are always used. Their own music traditions are not seen as suitable.
Rev Beirona, the Assistant General Secretary i/c Mission, has produced a new service book that was
approved by Assembly for use in all churches. We were not able to ascertain how much of this was
new work and how much followed the old book probably produced by the original missionaries.
CF Response
We stressed that were unable to give any answers to their requests directly. We also spent a short
time during the retreat explaining the structure of CF to them, particularly that it is a voluntary
federation of independent churches which provide some resources to the CF centrally in order that it
can support local churches in various ways and act on their behalf in such activities as our visit to
Maraland. They seemed to grasp the consequent differences in the ways in which CF and CCI(M)
work.
It is important that we give responses to these requests, even if they are negative. There are
problems with all of them – perhaps least with the music, though this was their lowest priority. The
first step from CF side would be to decide whether we can consider a particular request at all. If not,
we should tell them this. If there is a possibility, we need to ask for more details. There are questions
at present as to CCI(M)’s capacity to produce proposals and reports which would provide a sufficient
basis for attracting support, decision-making and maintaining interest, as well as satisfying givers
that their money was being utilised effectively. It is the reality of a small organisation such as CCI(M)
that it has to prioritise and things like proposal and report writing, particularly in English, take a back
seat.
CCI(M) do not yet have their own foreign currency bank account though they have the agreement of
the IKK (Church of Jesus Christ) in Siaha to use their foreign currency bank account.
During our visit we asked Beirakaw several times about future collaboration on training (as we have
discussed at CF) and one of the three questions posed in the World Café session concerned future
training needs. It was difficult to gauge the local ownership of the responses we received.
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It will be noted that all their top requests above, with the exception of music, concern what might be
called mission outreach. We did not get the impression that they see such a strong need for support
in building up CCI(M)’s existing churches, their members and leaders. Though during the World Café
the following list of training needs was drawn up:
Q. In what subjects would you like to receive training?
Answers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Church administration
Leadership
Bible Study
Social issues (problems)
Rehabilitation for youths
Role of women in church/society
How to cope with church projects
Education
Youth training …
How to be pray … with God
Spirituality of Christian
And also from the World Café:
Q. What actions do you plan to take as a result of attending this retreat?
Answers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
House to house campaign to mobilise church members for hard work and prayer
Unity among church leaders
To be more honest/faithful for God
To have a new and fresh plan for church in connection with projects
To be more developing in healing ministry and soul-winning ministry (mission)
To know one’s own responsibility
To have a new vision for church growth
Having a good relationship among all Congregational churches in the world by receiving more
training
9. It gives us an idea that other to pray for us more
10. We need to social developing to our churches in Maraland
Their reaction to the Bible Study and to participatory training methods suggest possible training
needs in these areas. Ideally, before doing any further training, a more detailed Training Needs
Assessment would need to be carried out with the various target groups within CCI(M), e.g. pastors,
elders, women’s leaders, youth leaders, etc. This may be impractical. The question is whether the
above responses constitute a sufficient basis on which to propose further training by CF in Maraland.
We are thus faced with a dilemma. If we follow what they obviously see as their priorities our
choices seem to be to pick up something like the English teacher or the music, despite reservations
over aspects of each, just in order to keep links going; or to see if CF or individual CF churches want
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to support CCI(M) financially in mission or medical services. Alternatively, we press ahead on the
basis of the lists above in proposing further training by CF tutors, recognising that this is not their top
priority but they may well accept from their side in order to keep ties going.
If the last option is adopted, a lot of questions still remain concerning who exactly should be trained,
in what and to what ends, i.e. how the training would be used within CCI(M). Amongst we CF visitors
we discussed the concept of a cascade – training those who might train others within the church –
but felt this was too complex to raise in the forums we encountered. (Beirakaw’s ill health reduced
to opportunities for discussion.) In so small an organisation and with so few educated (and Englishspeaking) leaders there are real human resource constraints which mean that they really need to see
the importance of training if they are to give it sufficient emphasis.
So there still remains much to be done to maintain and build on the links and the considerable
goodwill engendered by the 2012 and 2013 visits.
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